Radio Dignitas?

[kernelbogey]

You mean, if you were a teenager being introduced to classical music in this day and age, KB?[....]

I am unsure how to answer. The assault on the young from digital media seems to me to put their choices in entirely different realms from the choices open to me - which included choosing to discover serious music. The seduction of music-related videos must be a big part of this.

By the way, I was arguing from my evidence of who attends concerts and recitals hereabouts today. No doubt they, like me, developed their interest decades ago.

[Old Grumpy]

And I married a primary teacher who throughout - until she threw in the towel* in May this year - was and still could be a committed and enterprising teacher and advocate for music in every school where she taught.

(*another story, a long and painful story. ** Mrs CS - unashamedly committed to recorder teaching to all children so that most could read music by year 4 / 5 - and her insistence that it could not be taught to the whole class but in differentiated groups. The refusal to accommodate that in the timetable was but one of the issues which led to the decision to resign. We suspect that an underlying issue was that the recorder was regarded as " old fashioned " and that music teaching had "surely moved on". I'll stop there......).

*Glad you clarified that Mr CS. I first read this as indicating Mrs CS had moved on (one way or another)!

OG

[Old Grumpy]

It is. They play mouth organs now.

Or Ukes

[Cockney Sparrow]

*Glad you clarified that Mr CS. I first read this as indicating Mrs CS had moved on (one way or another)!

OG

I can say, with some feeling, that there is a lot more life in Mrs CS than there is in me most of the time. (But, to avert any more assumptions, I very much intend that I will not be throwing in the towel with any of my activites or interests, nor, so far as I know and ferventlly hope giving up the ghost . Well, not for some years.

For example I'm hoping I can hold a place in a large chorus at a decent standard for at least the next ten years. I recently talked to a contact in one of the large London (attached to Orchestra) Symphonic choruses as to whether us retired form an unfashionable cadre in the eyes of the choral directors and their masters. He understood the sentiment but responded by saying that they had little choice - for whatever reason (I'm sure work/family pressures rank high) they are not getting enough applicants of working age.

Which leads me to another related matter - as an example - the LSO chorus assigned the Gerontius semi chorus to singers from the Guildhall at a Barbican performance - they didn't ask them to join the chorus amongst the regular sections (presumably because they would not have agreed to participate). Do they think those students will join the LSO Chorus? Think again I say - they are all aspiring soloists (and sounded like it - cf another well known small group of singers in London) and if they don't "make it" I'm confident that few if any will consort with the likes of LSO members. So - the initiative earned the LSO chorus MD/management some credibility in the youth outreach fad, and deprived their loyal members, travelling to rehearsal week by week, of the chance to sing the semi-chorus. In fact, its quite reasonable to see the initiative as saying that the LSO chorus members are not up to the demands of that role.
I think the LSO have community choral outfits at LSO St Lukes - if so why not apply the long term hard work and expense in developing them to be members of the LSO chorus?